Description

Samosa :
A samosa (/səˈmoʊsə/), sambusa, or samboksa is a fried or baked dish with a savoury filling, such as spiced potatoes, onions, peas, or lentils. Its size and consistency may vary, but typically it is distinctly triangular or tetrahedral in shape. Indian samosas are usually vegetarian, and often accompanied by a mint chutney. Samosas are a popular entrée, appetizer or snack in the local cuisines of the Arabian Peninsula, Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia, the Mediterranean, the Indian subcontinent, the Horn of Africa, East Africa, North Africa and South Africa. Due to cultural diffusion and emigration from these areas, samosas in today's world are also prepared in other regions.
The word "samosa" can be traced to the sanbosag (Persian: سنبوساگ‬‎).[3] The pastry name in other countries can also derive from this root, such as the crescent-shaped sanbusak or sanbusaj in the Arab World, sambosa in Afghanistan, somosa (Bengali: সমোসা) in Bengal, samosa (Urdu: سموسہ‬) in Pakistan, samosa (Hindi:समोसा) in India, (Sindhi: سمبوسو Samboso/sambosa‎), samboosa in Tajikistan, samsa by Turkic-speaking nations, sambusa in the Horn of Africa, and chamuça in Goa, Mozambique and Portugal.[citation needed] While they are currently referred to as sambusak in the Arabic-speaking world, Medieval Arabic recipe books sometimes spell it sambusaj.

HISTORY :
The term Samosa and its variants cover a family of pastries and dumplings popular from North-Eastern Africa to western China. An ancient recipe for samosa, widespread in the Near East and India, involves mixing 1 cup of oil, 1 cup of melted butter, 1 cup of warm water, and 1 teaspoon of salt with dough. A praise of samosa (as sanbusaj) can be found in a 9th-century poem by the Persian poet Ishaq al-Mawsili. Recipes for the dish are found in the 10th-13th century Arab cookery books, under the names sanbusak, sanbusaq, and sanbusaj, all of which derive from the Persian word sanbosag. In Iran, the dish was popular until 16th century, but by the 20th century, its popularity was restricted to certain provinces (such as the sambusas of Larestan). Abolfazl Beyhaqi (995-1077), an Iranian historian, mentioned it in his history, Tarikh-e Beyhaghi.
Central Asian samsa were introduced to the Indian subcontinent in the 13th or 14th century by traders from Central Asia. Amir Khusro (1253–1325), a scholar and the royal poet of the Delhi Sultanate, wrote in around c. 1300 CE that the princes and nobles enjoyed the "samosa prepared from meat, ghee, onion and so on". Ibn Battuta, a 14th-century traveler and explorer, describes a meal at the court of Muhammad bin Tughluq, where the samushak or sambusak, a small pie stuffed with minced meat, almonds, pistachios, walnuts and spices, was served before the third course, of pulao. The Ain-i-Akbari, a 16th-century Mughal document, mentions the recipe for qutab, which it says, “the people of Hindustan call sanbúsah”.

REGIONAL VARIETIES :
INDIA :
The samosa is made with a wheat flour or maida flour shell stuffed with some filling, generally a mixture of mashed boiled potato, onions, green peas, spices and green chili or fruits.The entire pastry is then deep-fried to a golden brown color, in vegetable oil. It is served hot and is often eaten with fresh Indian chutney, such as mint, coriander or tamarind. It can also be prepared as a sweet form, rather than as a savoury one. Samosas are often served in chaat, along with the traditional accompaniments of yogurt, chutney, chopped onions, coriander, and chaat masala.
In Delhi, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Uttarakhand, a bigger version of the samosa with a spicy filling of masala potatoes, peas, crushed green chillies, cheese and even dried fruits, as well as other variations, is quite popular. This samosa is bigger compared to other Indian and foreign variants.
In Odisha, West Bengal and Jharkhand, shingaras (the East Indian version of samosas) are popular snacks. They are found almost everywhere. Shingaras are easy to make, but the folding is a little tricky and many people do not know how to fold or make shingaras. Shingaras are a bit smaller compared to those in other parts of India and the filling mainly consists of small pieces of potato and unmashed boiled potato, along with the addition of other ingredients. They are wrapped in a thin dough and fried. The coating is of white flour, not wheat flour, and it is slightly sweet in taste. What distinguishes good shingaras are flaky textures, almost as if they are made with a savoury pie crust.
Usually, shingaras are deep fried to a golden brown colour in vegetable oil. They are served hot and consumed with ketchup or chutney, such as mint, coriander or tamarind.